


There's a Certain...

by Cyane (orphan_account)



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Pepper Potts, Character Study, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Eve, December Fanfic Challenge, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Prompt Fill, Rhodey Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-02
Updated: 2016-12-02
Packaged: 2018-09-03 19:38:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8727652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Cyane
Summary: By day, Tony Stark was iconic. He was a celebrity, a scandal, a hero- worshiped by some, loathed by others- grinning at a camera and answering questions from the press. By night, Tony Stark was a depressed, PTSD-ridden, physically exhausted wreck. Luckily for him, there are three people- and one AI- that will always be there for him. (Also, it's Christmas.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Whoever this goddamn December prompt list is from, I've got to tell you, 'slant of light' was pretty obscure. I should probably know English literature better than this, but I had to look up a lot. Thank god for Google.
> 
> Also, 130 challenge? I HATE THE PROMPT CAMERA SO I'M SQUISHING IT INTO THIS ONE. SORRY.

"Mr. Stark, do you have any Christmas plans?"

Tony grinned. "Miss...?"

"Jensen," The blonde responded, looking slightly irritated.

"Well, Miss Jensen, I'm keeping all my holiday plans a secret. Hopefully you understand? It sort of takes away from the Christmas experience with cameras constantly filming your every move."

Jensen flushed and stepped back.

Another reporter quickly shoved forward to take her spot. He looked like he was a game show host.

"Mr. Stark, what do you have to say about the recent mutant protests going around? The riots have been happening for days, and everyone is waiting for your statement!"

Tony nodded, keeping the smile. "I am good friends with Charles Xavier and a lot of the students at his school. They want to leave here without discrimination. I believe that they should have that right."

Game show host narrowed his eyes. "What about the mutants doing damage?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "What about the _humans_ doing damage?"

"Sir?"

"We aren't trying to get rid of all humans just because some of them are destructive, or terrorists, or generally bad people. There are always going to be bad people and bad mutants, but there are always going to be good ones, too."

The man seemed satisfied and stepped back as well, turning to his camera man, who didn't look half as excited to be in the crowd of paparazzi.

"Mr. Stark-"

"Stark!"

About a dozen reporters had waited long enough and started pushing forward. Tony kept his composure gracefully, but felt his insides start to churn. He hated this. His face smiled. His stomach sank.

Luckily, Pepper stepped in when the crowd got too crazy. 

"That will be all," she said firmly. "No more questions."

After one last wave and smirk for the cameras, Tony let Pepper drag him into the car. They were staying in the newly rebuilt Malibu-home for Christmas. (Because last year went so well. Terrorists and everything. Gah.)

When they were safely in the car and the blackened windows were rolled up, Tony let the mask fall. His composure immediately cracked into exhaustion. Pepper squeezed his hand tightly before gently prodding Happy's shoulder in the front seat.

The bodyguard got the hint, gave a little concerned nod, and pushed one foot on the gas, blaring away from the huge crowd.

"Are you okay?" Pepper asked. (Like she always did.)

"I'm always okay," Tony answered. (Like he always did.)

She sighed but didn't push, instead pulling out her phone. "I told Rhodey we'll be there soon."

"Thanks, Pep."

She opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally deciding to say it: "What you said about those Mutants... It was very nice. They aren't getting a lot of support from many people, and I'd bet you coming out and doing so will help heir cause." Pepper waited for a reaction. 

Tony shrugged. "They see people that are different like Steve, they call him a hero. They see people that are different like Logan, they call him a monster."

Happy grunted from the driver's seat. "Damn right. You did good, boss."

"And its fucking freezing. Turn up the heat, would you?"

Happy grumbled something not-so-happy before cranking up the heat. "Maybe you should wear a coat when you go out to make statements, Tony."

The billionaire laughed. (Pepper smiled, because it was a _real_ laugh. Not the one he had done twenty minutes ago.)

"-over my extremely expensive suave suit? No thanks." As he said this, Tony was already shrugging off the vest and shoes. Pepper snorted.

"Don't start changing until after we get there, Tony."

Snow was pelting down on the sports car, and Tony was intensely grateful that Happy could somehow see in the thick, freezing fog. Maybe he just couldn't see because he was too tired.

"Jarv?"

Immediately a light blinked on from the dash and the British AI responded. "Yes, sir?"

"...start running diagnostics on project Eagle."

 

~-~-~

 

"Honey bear!"

Rhodey turned around, unable to keep himself from smiling as he saw Tony and Pepper walk in. Tony looked tired- more than usual, if that was possible- but he still looked genuinely happy to be back.

"Next year, let's not wait to decorate the Christmas tree until Christmas Eve, okay?"

He was in the middle of hanging ordaments and whatever the fuck else he could find on the tree. (So far, the range was from Tinsel to old hunks of Zinc he found in the workshop.)

(Was Zinc dangerous?)

(Eh.)

Tony tilted his head when he got closer to it. "I never pegged you as a Christmas tree fanatic, Rhodes."

Rhodey rolled his eyes. "Tones, we were roommates at MIT, we've known each other for years- you know I like decorating."

"I mean I never pegged you as a _good_ decorator."

Pepper stifled a laugh at Rhodey's slightly amused, slightly offended expression. "I think it looks lovely. Tony, go change. I'm giving Happy the next four days off; I know he wants to get back to his family."

Happy blushed slightly. "You got that right. Thanks. See you next week, boss."

"See you later," Tony said offhandedly, taking off his socks as he walked towards his personal room. 

 

~-~-~

The tree friends sat at the bar with minimum amounts of alcohol, each looking too tired to celebrate. It didn't help that when Tony wasn't in front of the media, he was a pretty pathetic drunk.

"Thanks for being here," he mumbled.

Rhodey wondered how Tony did it, switching from Tony Stark-the-fake-smile to _Tony_ -the-real-frown.

"We wouldn't miss it." Pepper said softly. 

"We're here for you, man," Rhodey added.

The mechanic nodded and sat back in his chair, downing another shot. "What did I do to deserve you guys?"  
Pepper's eyes narrowed. "Funny. I was asking myself the same thing."

"Tones, it's just us. Me, you, Pepper. Not the press. No cameras. It's just us celebrating Christmas Eve. You know that, man- it's just us."

Tony gave a small smile and nodded again. "Yeah... I guess it is."

 

~-~-~

 

"How the fuck do you spell Rudolph?" 

Rhodey burst out into slightly intoxicated laughter. "Ruuude-owlf."

They had eventually drank so much that the sad, depressing atmosphere was gone, replaced by laughter. (Pepper was still incredibly sober, however. She insisted that she just wanted to keep an eye on them.)

The heavy snow had turned into a blizzard, snow whipping the air and wind squealing from outside. 

"Look at that, Tony," Pepper exclaimed. "I know you like it when it snows on Christmas."

"JARVIS!" Tony yelled. 

"...sir?"

"Weather forecast for tomorrow!"

"Today, which is Saturday, is twenty degrees. Sunday, eighteen degrees. Monday-"

Tony interrupted with a laugh. "This isn't Celcius, right?"

"No, sir."

"Thank you, Jay."

 

~-~-~

 

They fell asleep halfway through a Frosty the Snowman rerun at two o'clock. 

_Running._

_BANG._

_Tony felt his lungs burn as he ran, and ran, and ran. No stopping._

_It took him ten more minutes of running before he looked down and saw the gaping hole in his chest, right where the ARC Reactor was supposed to be._

_He glanced back. Yinsen and Howard stood there. Howard held a shotgun and a smirk. Tony glanced at the hole in his chest._

_"Welcome back Mr. Stark," Yinsen's voice said. "The famous mass murderer of America." ___

___"No- no, Yinsen! You know me, that's not who I am, we have to get out of here, I have to go find Pepper why are we in Tennessee?" Tony had no idea what he was saying._ _ _

___"Tony," Yinsen said._ _ _

___"Tony."_ _ _

__"Tony!"_ _

__Pepper._ _

__Tony shot forward with a heaving gasp, lurching awake. Rhodey was immediately at his side with a bin, and Tony wasted no time emptying the contents of his stomach. (He hadn't eaten anything.)_ _

__He couldn't- fucking- breathe- _God_!_ _

__As he gasped for air, feeling his entire body start to shake in violent tremors, Pepper grasped his hands and held them tightly. Rhodey started rubbing soothing circles on his back. They had gone through this ritual before._ _

__"I can't- ag, breathe! Dammit!"_ _

__"It's okay, man," Rhodey said slowly. "It's gonna be fine. Everything is okay. Everything is okay."_ _

__Pepper remembered back to before she and Tony had broken up, when Tony was in the middle of a Panic attack and she had left. She shuddered._ _

__

__~-~-~_ _

__

__After Tony was good, then apologized five times for the attack, and Rhodey and Pepper had venomously told him not to apologize, and then hugged him, they decided to celebrate._ _

__It was Christmas, after all._ _

__It was time to make good memories that Tony could keep with him._ _

__For all of them._ _

__"Present for Pepper," Tony announced, passing the gift to her._ _

__"From who?"_ _

__Tony grinned. "Yours truly!"_ _

__She carefully unwrapped the packaged and tried not to burst out laughing when she saw the five-thousand dollar (gorgeous) Virsache bag. It was such a typical Tony gift._ _

__"Oh my god," She mumbled weakly. It really was beautiful. It went perfectly with her hair colour. "Thank you, Tony."_ _

__He shrugged, but they could tell he was holding in excitement. He liked to make them smile._ _

__"Gift for... Me?" Tony held up the package._ _

__"Aww. You guys shouldn't have!" It was a gift from both of them._ _

__Rhodey snorted. "Open it, you dork."_ _

__Tony opened it slowly, when he realized it was a stress ball, he laughed. It was a regular stress ball, colored with Iron Man colors._ _

__He took it out of the packaging._ _

__Gasped._ _

__Dropped it._ _

__That fucking thing had a heartbeat!_ _

__Rhodey and Pepper laughed for a moment as the shock wore off. "What did you two _do_?!"_ _

__Pepper smiled. "We put our heartbeats and vitals into that thing. That way, if we're not with you in person, and you need to know we're still here for you..."_ _

__Tony slowly picked the stress ball up again, feeling his eyes start to sting._ _

__Thump. Thump._ _

__It was oddly distinct; Pepper's heart and Rhodey's. Pepper's heart beat was slightly faster, lighter, softer than Rhodey. His was strong and hard and solid._ _

__It was incredibly comforting._ _

__Tony had no words, so he just reached out and hugged them both around the neck, bringing them all together._ _

__"I love you guys."_ _

__

__~-~-~_ _

__

__"Sir?" Jarvis's voice came from the workshop. Pepper and Rhodey were arguing in the kitchen about how to make breakfast._ _

__"Yeah, buddy?"_ _

__"As it is Christmas, sir, I have decided to give you a traditional gift."_ _

__Tony paused, feeling his eyes widen. That was... Surprising, to say the least. It was well known that JARVIS was far more human-like than he was supposed to be, but even this was odd for him._ _

__"You will find it in the further most corner. DUMM-E has been taking my instructions and assembling it, as I do not have a physical form."_ _

__Indeed he was. And DUMM-E wasn't doing half bad, either._ _

__Tony knew what it was at once._ _

__It was a painting._ _

__It depicted Tony in the workshop, tinkering away at something intently. From behind him, a man who looked eerily like a butler was peering over his shoulder, resting one hand comfortingly on his shoulder. Farther back, three young kids were making (and failing to make) smoothies. The thing about the butler and the three kids, though, was that they weren't incredibly human._ _

__They seemed to be glowing with energy. Electricity. Sort of transparent._ _

__Tony immediately figured it out._ _

__It was Tony. The butler was a humanize D form of JARVIS. In the background was U, DUM-E, and Butterfingers._ _

__Again, with the tears._ _

__"You... This wasn't in your code, Jay."_ _

__"I have spent a lot of time studying human characteristics, Mr. Stark, and I find that I have quite a number of them within myself."_ _

__Emotional, nonstaligic, sentimental, though?_ _

__Not that Tony was complaining._ _

__He subconsciously rubbed DUM-E's hand thing, taking in the artwork and finally letting out a little breathless smile._ _

__"It's great, Jarv. Merry Christmas."_ _

**Author's Note:**

> lmao this piece of shit.  
> Sorry it's a day late, I passed out yesterday and I couldn't finish it up. Lol. Hilarious. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy. This was less of a character study than I ancipipated, but I'm pretty okay with how it turned out. 
> 
> If you liked, please take the incredibly short amount of time to hit that kudos button! (Or the slightly-longer amount of time to write a comment! I always respond!)


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